The acquisition sees the group, which organises school trips throughout the UK, Continental Europe and the US, increase its 2017/18 turnover to £17m, with staff figures reaching 68 and annual passenger figures increasing to over 50,000.

Established in 2010, Next Generation Travel is one of the sector’s largest privately owned companies, and includes the WST Travel and FHT Travel brands. This latest strategic acquisition follows the group’s expansion success in 2013, which saw the firm purchase FHT Travel Ltd, a Cambridgeshire-based specialist tour operator which provides trips for students in further and higher education.

The only school travel company to be Awarded the Investors in People standard and Customer Service Excellence Award, WST Travel was named the UK’s Best School Tour Operator in The School Travel Awards 2016/17 and received the BETA Best Customer Service award in December 2015.

Deborah Beckett, managing director of Next Generation Travel says: “Anglia Tours has developed a reputation for excellence over the last 20 years. Matching our commitment to high levels of customer service and product innovation, we are delighted to join forces and look forward to growing the business and maintaining the exceptional standards customers have come to expect from the brand.”

Alain Chissel, Chairman, Anglia Tours, says our three companies share an ethos – the desire to deliver enjoyable educational experiences to customers and offer excellent value for money. We will continue to offer bespoke, high-quality, educational tours, each delivered with the same commitment to excellence in customer service. We now have in place the secure foundations for the next stage in our development, enabling us to focus on what we care about most, our customers, our staff, our suppliers, the places we visit, the stories we tell and the organisations we work with.”

After 34 years working in numerous operational and communications disciplines for three FTSE companies (Yorkshire Electricity; Meggitt and BAE Systems), at over a dozen locations, on 24 November 2016, I became the inaugural editor of Business Lancashire.
Business Lancashire is a good news, Lancashire focused, business website and daily newsletter. It is a partnership between The Samuel James Group and the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce.
Over the years, I have written hundreds of press releases, features for trade magazines, copy for websites and brochures, edited in-house magazines and newsletters, as well as presenting a radio programme on Chorley FM. This experience has given me the ideal background for editing Business Lancashire.